Let’s face it, mass producing custom product stickers often comes with a few complications. Continue reading to discover how to stay ahead of them.
Common Issues When Printing Custom Product Labels
Generally speaking, outsourced label printing comes with two main challenges: supply chain delays and design issues. Let’s dive into the intricacies of each one.
Supply Chain Problems
COVID-19 brought several logistic issues to the printing industry, including supply chain labeling constraints. Unfortunately, this trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down as month-over-month price inflation is the highest it’s ever been. As a result, many buyers are paying hefty prices just to maintain the continuity of their labels supply—buyers are seeing increased costs ranging from 4-15%.
As always, your best chance at staying ahead of supply chain issues is to partner with a trusted label printer who specializes in 3PL solutions.
Design Issues
When printing custom product labels, you’re also likely to come across complications with the design itself. Several printing issues can affect your overall label appearance, including:
Text Isn’t Legible
Have you ever encountered a scenario where your design looked fantastic on screen, but once printed, it was hard to read? This is a common label printing issue. Your text may have been too small, most likely because your labels usually appear bigger on screen than they will be in reality. Fortunately, there’s an easy solution. Just use a font size between 8 and 12 points, which is what books and magazines use for comfortable reading. If you have to go smaller, like a list of ingredients for instance, a minimum font size of 6 points works the best.
Design Looks Blurry
Have you ever mocked up a sticker design but realized it appeared blurry or pixelated once printed on the labels? This is another common issue when printing custom product stickers. On a screen, a resolution of 72 PPI is enough, but printing requires a resolution of 300 dpi. A good test to check how your label will look is to set the zoom at 200% in the design software and check if your design looks good. When you design your labels, make sure to use the right size. As a general rule of thumb, if you design for a 40 mm round label and order 80 mm round labels, the resolution may not be enough.
Labels Have a White Outline
When you outsource label printing, there’s always the risk of micro-movements, which can cause gaps between the label design and the trim. Most of the time, they are invisible to the eye, but sometimes you can see a white margin on the edge rather than your background. to avoid these gaps, you need to extend your background color, illustration, or picture beyond the trim line.
How USTL Helps Solve Printing Problems
If you’re looking to avoid the challenges of common label printing mishaps, partner with a professional provider like U.S. Tape & Label. We’re experts in our clients’ industries and know exactly what it takes to deliver high-quality packaging their customers are sure to love.
Case Studies: How We Help Our Clients Address Industry-Specific Challenges
When you outsource label printing, there’s always the risk of micro-movements, which can cause gaps between the label design and the trim. Most of the time, they are invisible to the eye, but sometimes you can see a white margin on the edge rather than your background. to avoid these gaps, you need to extend your background color, illustration, or picture beyond the trim line.
- A pharmaceutical company in need of batch numbers:
A domestic leader in pharmaceutical manufacturing needed unique bpatch numbers for their products. Other outsourced printing companies were overcharging them for unique identifiers on each label, but USTL was able to provide a cost-effective way to print their product labels with sequential numbering. - A customer with a large amount of regulatory information and a small label:
Another one of our customers works in an industry with regulations requiring a lot of specific content on their product labels, but other label printers could not provide enough real estate to fit all of the vital information. Luckily, USTL had the perfect solution with our Extended Text Booklet/Extended label products. - A client that needed labels fit for long-term storage:
At USTL, we’re experts in our clients’ industries and have unique product labels to accommodate their every need. One of our client’s products needed to be stored for a long time and in a harsh environment, so they wanted durable labels that could handle the elements. Fortunately, our UL Labels did the trick, delivering peace of mind that their labels will remain vibrant regardless of their storage conditions.
How Can USTL Help You?
Tired of struggling with labeling problems? You need a trusted label solutions partner like USTL. Fill out the form below and tell us how we can assist—we’re happy to help.
